You cannot help but to smile when seeing these images – and that is just the reaction that artistFlorentijn Hofman wanted.  Sometimes it is the simple things in life that mean the most, and to tap into those feelings, Hofman created his giant yellow duckie with the mission of simply bringing people together through the presence of art.

Treating the Loire as a giant bubble bath, as The Rubber Duck cruises, it brings a message of joy, without political or sociological connotation. Hofman’s work often deals with simplistic happiness – his signature oversized installations serve as diversions that ease the tension of modern life.  His work often gives onlookers a moment of serenity amidst times of economic and political turmoil. We can’t help but appreciate this.

“The duck itself is a durable vessel, made from an inflatable plastic shell, a pontoon boat, and a generator to help propel it forward downstream. It gently moves throughout the environment without disrupting the nature of the marine life in the river below. Rising 82 feet by 82 feet wide, the bath time toy conjures up childhood memories and nostalgic narratives, undeniably creating smiles as it passes through each town.”

The Rubber Duck traveled a 40 mile stretch from Saint-Nazaire to Nantes, France as part of the Loire Estuary art exhibition. The Rubber Duck has already delighted the shores of both Osaka and Sao Paulo, and it will likely continue its journey to other waterways around the world, surely spreading joy and smiles everywhere it floats.

We hope this ducky makes it’s way across the pond to visit us sometime soon – what an incredible sight!

Absolutely brilliant.

The DENY Designs featured artist of the week isJacqueline Maldonado. New to the DENY Designsfamily this year, Jacqueline brings bright color and a variety of design techniques that create amazing artworks. DENY customers are particularly loving her watercolor designs titled “Arpeggi” and “Kiss of Life”.

More about Jacqueline and her inspiration for her work:

When asked to comment on her work, Jacqueline states, “I think about what can be communicated through line, form, tone, composition and the relationship of these elements to each other.   I aim to create imaginative work; work that holds mystery, work that is poetic, and work that is luminous with color.”

Jacqueline Maldonado is a New York City native currently residing in Southern California.  She spent most of her adult career in various facets of the fashion industry, all the while nurturing her artistic talent through higher education in visual art and developing a discipline in her artistic practice.  In her recent move across the country, Jacqueline took a leap of faith to pursue her art as a full-time endeavor.  Equipped with sharp focus, ambition, determination, resourcefulness and innate talent, in a very short time, she is beginning to see success as a professional artist.  She sells her works as prints and originals and also partners with several retailers and manufacturers who print her work on various products.  She is proud to be partnering now with DENY Designs!

Jacqueline works in a variety of media and explores many styles and modes of artistic expression; including but not limited to: watercolor, oil pastel,  photography, digital imaging, graphic design, textile and surface design.  Often, she combines several of these media, inventing unique and modern forms of art.  She creates compositions derived from many sources and amalgamations of inspiration:imagination, emotion, nature, memory, and music.

To see all of Jacqueline’s designs on DENY Designs products,visit: http://denydesigns.com/collections/jacqueline-maldonado-all-art

Pretty talented right? We love her work!

I’ve previously seen minimalist posters of Pixar and famous Hollywood movies, but I am absolutely loving these. When ! stumbled across these on DesignTaxi, I had to do a double-take. I was shocked to see Disney classic movies with a whole new design makeover. It almost makes me want to watch these movies again.

This time around, Liverpool-based graphic designer and artist Rowan Stocks-Moore has rendered Disney films the minimalist feel with his latest series of posters. Taking on classic Disney titles like Snow White and The Seven Dwarves,Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and many others, his posters feature strong silhouttes and iconic graphics.

Check them out:

Pretty cool right? Which one is your fave?

Colorful and full of meaning, ‘Devotion’ was inspired by Hinduism. “The title refers to the act of creating it itself as well as religious practices found in Hinduism, the repetitive practice of mantras and the flowers used in devotional ceremonies,” declares artist James Roper. Roper is the mastermind behind the 10,000 origami flowers displayed in this installation.

Every day for 3 years, James Roper would meticulously fold at least 10 perfect origami flowers – leaving him with 10,000. Following the completion of his folding, he arranged them neatly into different designs for display to represent the word “Devotion” – also the title of the installation. We are so utterly impressed by this! We also wonder how many paper cuts he got during his folding time.

The project as a whole is called “Devotion.” The arrangements you see below are as thus: the big target is Devotion (mandala), the sun outline is Devotion (mandala swept away), and the snake is Devotion (degree show installation).

James Roper is a multidisciplinary artist and designer and painter and paper craftsman and basically everything else you can imagine.

Kudos to you James! This is amazing!

How cool (literally) is this?

In 2009, Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo carved these incredible tiny ice sculptures of men on the steps of Gendermenmarkt Square in Berlin. Aside from being beautiful, Azeveedo created the thousand miniature people to shed light on the effects of global warming and the World Wildlife Fund’s warning that melting ice could cause water levels to rise.

Needless to say, the tiny men didn’t stay sitting for long. The installation lasted till the last one melted in the heat of the day. Although a short exhibit, it sure was a powerful one.

You should think twice now before throwing away all of those old buttons you have lying around the house – at least Ran Hwang sure does. Ran Hwang is a Korean-born artist working in new york, who creates intricate and poetic installations using the very simplest of objects like push pins and buttons.

Hwang is best known for her wall sculptures that make use of common objects like buttons and crystals pinned directly onto the wall of the gallery. Using each element like a pixel on a screen, Hwang creates oversized murals of birds, trees or chandeliers. Her subject matter is often influenced by buddhist theories and symbolism. Hwang’s work has been described as inviting ’the viewer to engage in multiple readings of emptiness and existence, of attempting to reach the state of enlightenment and fulfillment through the conscious emptying of one’s mind and spirit’.

Pretty amazing right?

Exactly one year ago, DENY Designs was born. We are thrilled to say that today we are celebrating one amazing year of business. We are looking forward to the many more birthdays that will surely come. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to surround ourselves with amazing people and extremely talented artists that make DENY Designs tick. We hope you enjoy our products as much as we do!

DENY Designs Products


About DENY Designs
Based in Denver, Colorado, DENY Designs is a modern, think-outside-the-box home furnishings company. DENY empowers its customers to transform dull, everyday household accessories into fun and original statement pieces by adding a personal image or selecting artwork from the DENY Art Gallery. With each purchase from the Gallery, our team of talented artists earn part of the proceeds, enabling DENY to support art communities all over the world while also spreading the creative love! From custom furniture pieces to textiles, if it’s in the home décor category, DENY puts its own unique spin on it!

About The Husband and Wife Team Behind DENY Designs:

Dustin Nyhus, CEO & Founder
A Denver native, Dustin Edward NYhus is the namesake behind DENY Designs. But he’s more than just a name. He’s a creator, visionary and he’s got mad skills when it comes to designing and building furniture. It’s in his blood, as he grew up watching his father and grandfather build just about anything and everything. It inspired him and naturally, he followed in their footsteps. After graduating with a degree in Industrial Design from Metropolitan State College of Denver, he took off to sunny South Florida to design boats for Bertram Yachts. But as we all know, you can take the boy out of Colorado, but you can’t take the Colorado out of the boy. So, Dustin moved back to Denver and spent five years in wholesale manufacturing before he got the brilliant idea to combine both of his work experiences. Alongside his wife Kim, Dustin created DENY Designs and continues to be the brains behind the operation. You name it, he oversees it. He’s a busy guy living out his dream…and he’s just getting started.

Kim Nyhus, Co-Founder
Originally from South Florida, the creative and fashion-forward Co-Founder of DENY Designs inched her way to Denver over the last 10 years. How’d she get there? By way of Dallas, where she attended SMU (go Ponies!) and met her future husband. After graduating with a degree in Advertising Management, Kim decided to move to the freezing cold, all in the name of love. Why else would she trade 80-degree weather and flip-flops for snowy days and UGG boots? And thankfully, it was a good move on her part because after working in advertising, event planning and television production, she ended up marrying Dustin, having twin boys (the cutest babies ever!) and starting this rockin’ company we call DENY Designs. Together with Dustin, Kim manages every detail of the company making sure that their creative vision comes to life from the carefully selected, highly talented DENY artists to the exclusive line of products that are offered.

Visit: www.denydesigns.com

Wow. This makes me want to skip out on work today and head straight to Home Depot to pick up some power tools, plywood and approximately 10,000 screws. Yeah, yeah I know that I would never be able to recreate what Andrew Meyers does, but I can at least dream right?

American artist Andrew Myers uses screws to create amazing, detailed, 3D-portraits of people. Myers spends just two or three days and up to ten thousand screws for each piece. He takes a sheet of plywood, makes a sketch of a portrait in pencil, and then begins to place the screws at different depths turning a flat image into a volume masterpiece. Easier said than done.

Check them out – so amazing!

Biography:  Since his early childhood, Andrew Myers has been artistically influenced by european life and culture.  Born in Braunshweig, Germany and raised in Ciudad Real, Spain his exposure to modern continental living and classical architecture prompted the universal and classical themes, yet modern design found in his artwork.

At the age of 20, Myers applied to the Art Institute of Southern California (now known as the Laguna College of Art and Design); with no previous art training, he was accepted based upon the natural talent his application portfolio evidenced.  The young artist developed his skills through advanced figurative sculpture and accelerated painting curriculum.  While these two and a half years of creative training provided Myers with the basic working knowledge of the artistic field, it was his drive, passion, and leap of faith into work as a full time artist that allowed him to cultivate his particular style.

We ran across these semi-explicit photos of the oh-so-innocent Barbie showing off her dark side on DesignTaxi, and found ourselves howling out loud. Something you don’t want to share with the little girls in your life, but Denver-based photographer Sarah Haney pokes fun at Barbie and casts a dark shadow over the ‘perfect’ doll—to show viewers that life in plastic is not always fantastic.

In her photo series ‘Welcome To The Dream House’, ‘Life In Plastic’ and ‘Things Fall Apart’ that was shot on 35mm film, Haney portrays Barbie and Ken in compromising positions—such as drug trafficking, eating disorders, drinking problems, cross-dressing, having external marital affairs, and paying seedy worlds a visit.

“On the surface, Barbie appears perfect. She’s beautiful, has great clothes, several good careers, and a perpetual smile on her face. As a child, I was always bothered by that smile—I put her through any number of tragedies, but no matter what befell her she kept that fixed little smirk.” Haney wrote about her project.

“As an adult, the thinking about that fixed expression of pleasure made me start to think about what she might be hiding behind the façade of perfection—after all, how great could life really be for a woman who clearly has an eating disorder, an addiction to plastic surgery and nothing between her ears?”

“My photographs portray the dark side of life in the Dream House: Barbies obsession with her body, Ken’s quest for sexual gratification, all the dirty little secrets they attempt to hide as they present themselves as icons of the American Dream.”

Tuesday funny: All The Things You Must Have Said To Your Children, In Poster Form. We ran across these absolutely hilarious masterpieces on DesignTaxi and felt obligated to share such comical pieces.

Iowa-based artist Nathan Ripperger has come up with a series of humorous yet adorable posters expressing the things he has said to his children. At the time, they may have been some serious situations, but looking back now, things that you might have said to your children seem pretty comical now.

If your words are still not going down well with your kids, perhaps these posters would be more effective?

The DENY Designs featured artist of the week isWesley Bird. Wesley Bird is a recent addition to the DENY Designs team this year. Her modern, creative work translates onto home decor products so beautifully, and in a way that is completely unexpected.

More about artist Wesley Bird:
Wesley Bird has always been inspired by art, design and fashion. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State University, with an emphasis in painting and printmaking. Although she always knew she wanted to do something in the creative field, it was during an internship program after her freshman year of college that she discovered her true love of illustration.

Ever since, she has been working as a graphic designer and illustrator for several companies, including Urban Outfitters, Hurley, and Jedidiah Industries. Born on the East coast and now residing on the West/best coast she spends her free time drawing, partying with her dog, Sawyer, and biking along the beach with friends (…scouting boys with mustaches).

To check out all of Wesley Bird’s designs on DENY Designs products, visit:http://denydesigns.com/collections/wesley-bird-all-art

Not just the ridiculous name of Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s recent child, Moroccan is a hot new home design style that we are loving right now. Moroccan design is welcoming, warm, inexpensive and relatively easy to pull together — all wonderful traits for those interested in Moroccan-style home decorating.

Moroccan design combines the best of Moorish and European influences to form a beautiful union of architecture and style. This fusion of Arab, Spanish, French art deco and Berber style entices design enthusiasts everywhere. It also adds a note of worldly, well-traveled sophistication to a space. The best part is, you don’t have to theme an entire room — a few simple accessories will do the trick. Look for the vibrant colors red, green and blue found in the sea of the area and also gold, yellow, orange and silver from the surrounding desert.

Moroccan Style 101:

The Goods: Morocco is known for its handmade works like carved doors and columns, hand-woven carpets, intricately painted tiles, lanterns, leather goods and silver tea sets.
Color: The North African country borders an ocean, but is also a desert oasis, resulting in a warm and cool color palette. Earth tones combined with various shades of blue and pink are common, as are texture and pattern.
Traditional vs. Modern: A modernized version of Moroccan style is popular in the U.S. because it successfully takes classic Moroccan-design motifs, materials and styles and gives them a fresh spin. Traditional Moroccan design is heavier, more ornate and what some consider “busy.”

DENY Designs Artist, Khristian A Howell has just released a collection of patterns and art titled “Moroccan Mirage”. Here are a few images of the art on DENY Designs shower curtains that we think you’ll love! Along with your Moroccan home decor transformation, don’t forget to turn your bathroom to your own Moroccan oasis!

 

How do you even think of this? We are constantly shocked by the amazing, creative and unique minds of artists all around us.

Take for instance, Swiss design studio I Never Kissed A Dog. They created a winter wonderland in a living room using thousands of white Post-its as part of a photoshoot for the perfume Winter 1972.

Designer Adrian Merz painstakingly covered the entire room and then photographed it using different light sources and effects to add to the image…as if a room covered in white paper from top to bottom isn’t impressive and surprising enough! How cool is this? We are thinking this could be a great look for our new office:)